Fiji's Sodelpa party urges young people to register for elections

A political party in Fiji plans to start transporting young people to voter registration centres to boost youth enrolment for the elections.

The president of Sodelpa's Youth Council, Pita Waqavonovono, says it's discovered many young people have not yet registered to vote in the polls promised by September this year.

He says more than sixty percent of the population is estimated to be in the 18 to 35 age bracket so the young vote is important for those contesting the polls.

But Mr Waqavonovono says many don't have the means to get to the town-based registration centres.

"We've decided to actually start paying for young people to make their way down to town so we're paying for buses to pick up young people and actually get them registered. This is the route that we now have to follow because we know for sure that this particular regime is unpopular among young people. I mean they've supressed the youth of this nation so many times."

Pita Waqavonovono says Sodelpa's also urging the Elections Office to go house to house to get people registered.

There are six registration offices around Fiji and 545,000 voters have registered so far.